May 15, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1424

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ST JOHN’S (Antigua), May 14: Steve Waugh and Brian Lara face contrasting futures after West Indies’ extraordinary victory in the fourth Test over Australia.

In terms of the series, Tuesday’s historic three-wicket win over the world champions provided the hosts with the consolation of avoiding an unprecedented home whitewash, and Lara’s position as captain now appears much more secure than Waugh’s.

Waugh’s tactics came in for heavy criticism after the hosts made 418 to win the match, the highest victorious fourth-innings total in Test history.

The 37-year-old, who passed former Australian captain Allan Border’s record of 156 Test appearances during the series, defended his decision to bring on leg-spinner Stuart MacGill with only a handful of runs needed.

“You’ve got to back your gut feeling,” he said. “I thought Stuart would take care of the rest, it was a turning track and tail enders find it (leg-spin) difficult to play against.”

Waugh admitted his team had lost their cool.

“It wasn’t pretty, we would like these things not to happen,” he said. “We got ruffled yesterday and lost our composure.”

The players’ lack of discipline did not go unnoticed by Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland.

“It’s all very well playing the game in the right spirit when things are going your way,” Sutherland said. “But when things aren’t, that’s when the real Test is on. If you can’t carry yourself in the true spirit of the game at those times, perhaps you need to have a good look at yourself.”

The Australian selectors, never afraid of making tough and controversial decisions, may decide the time has come to end Waugh’s reign.

With home series against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and India later this year it may be the ideal opportunity to hand Ricky Ponting, already well established as Waugh’s successor as one-day skipper, control of the Test side.

Waugh said last week he believed he still had several years left at the top level, but his 36th Test victory as captain in Barbados last week, equalling the record of former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd, could well be his last.

Despite another heavy series defeat in which West Indies lost three home Tests in a row for the first time in their history, Lara was full of optimism.

“West Indies have grown over the last two years and achieving this will catapult us to great things in the future,” Lara said. “We’ve improved in every Test and I think we are not going to lose another Test this year.

“It showed character and a progression of the guys’ mentality,” the 34-year-old added. “This is an opportunity for them to understand that they’ve created history.”

The fact that Lara, who said before the fourth Test that his team were on the verge of “something fantastic”, did not play the crucial role was perhaps the most significant factor for West Indies, who have been in the doldrums for years after dominating world cricket in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Although the record-breaking left-hander made 128 runs in the match, it was centuries by Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the fast bowling of Jermaine Lawson and the courageous batting of 20-year-old off spinner Omari Banks that inspired their side’s unexpected triumph.

West Indies next face a home series against Sri Lanka and with Lara more secure than ever in his position as captain they have reason to feel there is finally light at the end of what has been a long tunnel.

The Australian players were also criticised back home for their behaviour during an ill-tempered match.

While much credit was given to the host’s world record run-chase of 418, the Australian media focussed on the row between Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s cricket writer Peter Roebuck said the verbal exchange and McGrath’s finger-pointing had sullied the match and the game’s image.

“Regardless of the result, the Australians have done nothing to enhance their reputations as sportsmen,” Roebuck wrote in Wednesday’s paper.

“If victory cannot be achieved without recourse to the sort of antagonism seen in Antigua then it is not worth bothering about.

“Cricket searched for a champion team and found only an unscrupulous aggressor.”

Roebuck’s sentiments were echoed by The Australian’s columnist Patrick Smith who said the incident was an embarrassment to Australian officials at a time when they have promised to clean up the game.

“The line between belligerence and hostility is a fine one ... Australian cricket has been at fault for allowing their players to hang about the line for so long.

“Australian administrators have tolerated their cricketers’ boorishness because they have been the dominant team throughout the world and success generates interest and income.”

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph columnist Mike Gibson criticised match referee Mike Proctor for not taking stronger action against McGrath when he began waving his finger at umpire David Shepherd.

Under the headline “Aussies are out of control”, Gibson wrote: “Instead of making McGrath aware that his behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated, he allowed the umpire to be humiliated by a player who had lost control.

“The lily-livered reaction of those in charge has made a laughing stock of the game.”—Reuters